


A Journey With Sticks and String

by heima



Category: Pushing Daisies
Genre: F/M, Knitting, Short & Sweet, Short One Shot, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-21
Updated: 2016-10-21
Packaged: 2018-08-23 19:36:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8340061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heima/pseuds/heima
Summary: Charlotte Charles turns to knitting to help clear her mind. Set during episode 109: Corpsicle.





	

Charlotte Charles learned to knit when she was just a young girl, taught from a secondhand book titled _Knit Yourself Happy!: A Joyful Journey With Sticks and String_. She had rescued this book from a cart in the lobby of the Coeur D'Coeur Library labelled "FREE TO A GOOD HOME". Her intention was to share it with her Aunts Lily and Vivian, who, in Charlotte's mind, could use a little joy, whether it came in the form of sticks and string or not. She left it strategically on kitchen counter besides Aunt Lily's vodka collection and hovered nearby to watch her Aunt's reaction.

"Knitting? I'm not an old lady just yet, thank you," Aunt Lily said as she breezed away, vodka tonic in hand.

Undefeated, Charlotte tried leaving the book next to Aunt Vivian's favorite bird's cage.

"Oh Charlotte, I hope you aren't thinking of taking up knitting dear. Those dreadful long needles." She leaned in closer and hissed, "You might poke your eye out!"

"You might poke your eye out!!" the parrot echoed back.

Horrified, Aunt Vivian threw his cover over his cage. "What if Lily heard you, silly bird? Take that awful book away, Charlotte."

In a fit of stubbornness and optimism, Charlotte decided to learn to knit herself in the hopes that she would exude joy and lead her Aunts by example. A pair of pink plastic knitting needles, a great lump of red yarn that smelled like burnt plastic, a week curled up in the attic, and one abysmal looking scarf later, she decided that knitting maybe isn't the best way for her easily overwhelmed Aunts to find joy.

It took Charlotte almost 17 years and her death and resurrection to pick up the needles again. The revelation of a secret between lovers made a deep wound in her first serious relationship and left her feeling lost and alone. She couldn't switch off her endless swirling thoughts, and began to wonder if the challenge of picking up the needles again wouldn't be the perfect distraction.

Charlotte felt a flash of intimidation as soon as she entered the nautically themed Yael's Yarn Yacht. Despite the freezing cold outside, it was blazing hot inside. Little mounds of sand covered the creaking wooden floor, making every step sound like it was made in a shack on the beach. Seashells sparkled from the frames of bright white cubbies holding an endless array of skeins, needles, books. Life rafts and painting of ships covered every bare inch of walls. The sounds of waves and seagulls echoed from speakers. Charlotte paused for a moment and enjoyed the sensation of being somewhere far away.

She met the eyes of a small woman wearing a captain's hat, who loudly rang a bell and shouted, "Ahoy there! Welcome to the Yarn Yacht!"

Charlotte smiled and waved back before making her away to the shelf full of printed out pages tucked in shiny plastic sleeves. As she suspected, they were knitting patterns. She rifled through a few of them. This one was too simple. That one just wasn't her style. Suddenly, she found the one. A blouse, lightweight, lacy, and a little sexy. The photo on the front of the sheet showed a woman with a sleek black bob modeling the finished design. Charlotte thought that she looked a little like Aunt Vivian. For a split second she had a vision of herself in the attic, tears streaming down her cheeks in a moment of frustration, before picking up her needles again, determined to be able to show her Aunts what they could be missing out on. The corner of her mouth turned up in a smile before the swirling doubts returned. _Where was her normally stubborn spirit? Was she giving up on Ned too quickly? Or does she have a right to hate him? Wait a moment, does she really hate him?_ Charlotte ran a hand over he eyes, overwhelmed by the flood of emotions. When she recovered she picked up the pattern, held it close to her chest, and looked around for the woman in the captain's hat again.

"Can I help you?" the woman asked.

"Are you Yael?" Charlotte said.

"Aye aye, miss. How can I help you?"

"What kind of yarn would you recommend for this?" she said, holding out the pattern.

"Right this way," Yael said, striding over to one of the cubbies at the far end of the store.

"Silk and alpaca. A real treat." Charlotte ran her fingers over one of the twists of yarn. _It's a shame Ned can't touch in her in this._ She gave her head a little shake. "Thank you."

"It has a bit of a halo, if that bothers you. But it's the perfect amount of drape."

Charlotte nodded hesitantly and turned back to look at the colors.

"You're new to this, aren't you? You might want to start with something simpler."

"Thank you, but I want the challenge," Charlotte said.

Yael hummed suspiciously, but Charlotte ignored her. Charlotte pretended to ponder over the color selections, but she already knew what she was going to choose. Bright cherry red, just like that first scarf.

She paid and watched Yael wind the hanks into neat little balls before sliding everything into a paper bag covered in a shiny blue ship. Charlotte took a deep breath as she stepped back outside into the cold. She was a little surprised to discover that she didn't feel quite angry as she had been this morning. She wondered if Ned was worried about her, and if how he would react when he saw her again. She tried to imagine young Ned the night his mother died, tearstained and alone, and felt her heart skip in a beat. She tilted her head back and imaged her anger as a little monster living in the steam of her breath and exhaled deeply again. Somehow Charlotte knew it probably wouldn't take more than a few inches of cherry red lace before her heart would be ready to see him again.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fic I've written in almost 13 years, but it's an idea that's been kicking around in my head for a while and I decided to finally get it out of my system. This hasn't been beta read so I apologize for any errors in spelling/grammar. Set during episode 109: Corpsicle, when Chuck and Ned are separated and trying to sort out their thoughts. I've been a knitter for 16 years now so I like to think that all my faves are secretly knitters. :P
> 
> P.S. - the pattern I had in mind is "Date Night Pullover" by Nikol Lohr. I'm not sure how to put links in here (or even if you can at all?) but it's a free pattern on Knitty so it's easy enough to find if you Google the title :)


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